MAPLETON -- Lots of people live in century-old houses in Utah County.
But not many will be converted into museums. Some of the local century-old houses have been updated to the point they have lost their original architectural integrity, says Bruce Mendenhall of The Mapleton Heritage Museum Corp. But not the historic Bird Home in Mapleton's city park.This structure, the Mapleton Heritage Museum, is the quintessential example of a "Mormon pioneer Victorian home," he said. "I've been involved in its restoration for the last 10 years." The latest refurbishing will be done in time for the city's 24th of July celebration.
Built by Roswell Darin Bird Sr. in 1895 of adobe and brick, the home never left the family's possession until grandson Morris Bird sold it to the city in 1991 for $50,000.
"He wanted it to become a museum," Mendenhall said. The home is reputedly one of the oldest in Mapleton. Morris Bird and his wife Margaret lived there off and on until shortly before their deaths just a few years ago. He had the home listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.
He purchased it from his brother, Floyd Bird, who raised his family there. "I loved it," Doris Bulow of Mapleton said. She is Floyd Bird's daughter and grew up there. Her grandmother, Melinda Bird, lived there, too, so relatives visited often.
Earlier efforts to sell the home to the city failed. Morris Bird attempted a sale in 1979, city records show, but officials turned him down. The asking price then was $30,000, based on three appraisals that ranged from $20,000 to $35,000.
In the 1970s the home was in poor shape, according to an appraisal. At least one wall was separating and the rock foundation was beginning to crumble. Wood floors had deteriorated. The home needed a roof and the brick exterior needed cleaning. All that restoration has now been done, thanks to a volunteer effort and a few thousand dollars in state grants.
Morris Bird carpeted the home to make it more comfortable for day-to-day living, but other changes were made years ago, Mendenhall said.
"It's nothing like it was when we lived there," Bulow said. A modern bathroom was built onto the rear of the home in 1986, and the kitchen was updated, although one appraiser called the quality of the work "marginal." Natural gas and electricity brought the home into the 20th century.
The museum has been "fixed up" before and opened to the public on occasion, but city officials want it open more frequently. Officials have agreed to give the group of history buffs a license to operate the museum, but opening it often is a condition. The details haven't yet been worked out, City Councilwoman Linda Olsen said. The group likely will staff it one or two days a week or by appointment. Mendenhall said.
Refurbishing the home this time won't be particularly historic. A second floor bedroom will be decorated in the Victorian era, but the modern carpeting on the main floor will stay, Mendenhall said. "We're not going to be sticklers for authenticity."
While the city will pay utilities, it hasn't any money to invest in the structure. That kind of cash will have to come from grants, Mendenhall said. So far The Mapleton Heritage Museum Corp. has received some $6,000 in state grants, much of which has been spent painting and refurbishing the structure. Recently, the group received a $1,200 grant from the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University to fix up the inside, including displays. The Charles Redd Foundation funded the grant, said Beverly Woods of Mapleton, daughter of the former state legislator and rancher. Redd lived from 1889 to 1975.
Since the city purchased the home, Mapleton history has been collecting within its walls. Some of those collections are now in disarray, but the home will be ready for public visits by Saturday, Mendenhall said.
At an LDS Church priesthood meeting in 1885, Lewis J. Whitney suggested the name Mapleton after its numerous maple trees. The name stuck, Mendenhall said.
Photographs of many of those early Mapleton families are displayed on the walls in the Bird Home, particularly in a room called the Pioneer Room, originally the living room. A portrait of Matilda Streeper -- known as Aunt Matilda -- is stored there and will be cleaned, framed and hung, Mendenhall said. The painting is by famed LDS artist John Hafen and went through several ownerships before it was donated to Mendenhall.
"Hafen painted it for food," Vern G. Swanson of the Springville Art Museum said. Swanson is writing a book on Hafen. "He was scraping by for food for his family. All he did was paint." With the exception of Hafen, Utah artists had other means of income, he said. Hafen died in 1910 at the age of 56 just as success was within his grasp, Swanson said.
Streeper donated an acre to the LDS Church for the first chapel built in Mapleton in 1895, which was razed in 1937, Mendenhall said. Members met in other buildings before then.
A treasure trove of family histories of those first pioneers are kept in the museum. One wall holds photos of Mapleton veterans, including those killed in action. Another display holds historic lamps and metal cups once used to serve the sacrament in the LDS Church. Other items, some on loan, will also be displayed.
Morris Bird took the first steps toward building a museum complex by moving one of the first Mapleton log cabins to the site. Built by Levi Kendall, one of the early pioneers who entered the Salt Lake Valley with Brigham Young, he settled in what was to become Mapleton.
That cabin has now been restored and readied for visitors. Century-old cuts on the bare log walls still show and the floor has been oiled pioneer-style. Said Mendenhall, "It looks close to what it looked like at that time."